Life After Highschool
by Rustic Capitals
Summary: Story takes off right after Amy leaves for New York. Amy is sitting in her apartment still not knowing whether or not she regrets her decision. First Fan Fic. Reviews are welcome.
1. Alone in New York

Amy is sitting alone in her New York apartment. She couldn't believe what she had just done. Was it only three days ago that she decided to commit emotional suicide? She doesn't know how she's going to do it but she has no choice. She has to go on living without Ricky. And what about John? Omg what about John? She knew she couldn't take him to New York. It killed her that she knew that. But that's what mothers do right? Make sacrifices? Even if it meant making the ultimate sacrifice? Kathy had done it. She gave up her daughter knowing she couldn't possibly provide for in the way her adoptive parents could. Making the ultimate sacrifice for the better good of your child. If Kathy could be brave and strong enough to do it, then she could be brave enough to leave her son with his father, instead of hurting them both and taking John away to New York. It's a nice thought though. Having John with her here. She wouldn't mind that so much, just her and John. It could be just her and John for the rest of her life and she would be satisfied with that. But, she knew John would be miserable. Her son would have nothing here. At least this way, he is still living in the home he loves, with the man who would be able to provide for him. John would have his father, and not to mention, her own parents, Nora and Rickys parents. If she brought John with her here, she wouldn't be just taking John away from his home and Ricky. She would be taking him away from everything he's known for the first 3 years of his life, including his teachers and friends from daycare. It wouldn't be fair to uproot him like that. And really between school and studying and probably having to take up a part time job, John would be spending most of his time having random people look after him than he would be with his own mother in New York. Of course she would find the best daycare and school for him to go to, and someone solid she trusts to babysit during the nights she would have to work; but what kind of life is she really giving him. No, this was the best option. It might not be the best option for her, but at least she's actually getting to live her dream of going to Hudson. If she could just find a way to see John more.

Amy looked at herself in the mirror. She was a mess. Get out Amy, she told herself. You've been in New York for 3 days and you've done nothing but sulk in this apartment. Get dress and get out. So she did just that. She tied her long brown hair up in a ponytail and decided to head to the store to pick up some groceries.


	2. Hey Ricky

"Hey Ricky!"

Ricky looked up from his accounting book. "Oh Hey Clementine", Ricky replied instantly, recognizing the voice without even having to look up.

She sat down on the chair across from him and placed her hand on top of his. "How are you doing?"

I'm doing alright. I can't tell you I'm doing good, given the circumstances, but I'll be alright. Thanks.

Clementine gave him a suggestive look. "Well…if you need anything, anything at all, you have my number. Call anytime. Alright?"

"Thanks", was all Ricky replied back before looking back down on his text book again. That look wasn't lost on him. He thought about it for a few seconds and decided to just get back to reading. You're here for school remember. He can't believe he was allowing himself to be so….self-preserved. I mean a year ago, heck 6 months ago, that look was all it took for him to plan out how he was going to get himself over at her apartment that night. But he was a single dad and had no such luxuries like that anymore.

Just like Amy, he decided to take up a few courses over the summer. One class required him to be on campus on Tuesdays every week and the other he was taking online. He would only be on campus once a week and could work full time the rest of the time. But taking a few classes in the summer would mean a lighter school schedule in the fall and now that Amy was gone, he needed to have as much flexibility he could get. Amy. Every once in a while he thought about that argument they had just before she walked out of his life but would quickly stop himself. Despite everything he's done and all the changes he's made this past year, he still couldn't make it work with Amy. He knew relationships fail all the time and hardly any teenage parents ever end up together in the end. Hell the chances of that is probably rarer than winning the lottery, but why did he still feel like some kind of failure? At the same time he didn't want to be the reason that held her back from doing exactly what she wanted to do. He had to let her go. Its what's best for everyone, he thought.


	3. Summer Classes

Amy buried herself in her summer classes. She missed John so much it hurt and school was one of the ways she tried to distract herself from the pain. She didn't realize she could hurt this bad, but she's made the decision to leave and this time, she has to live with it. Because what would be the alternate choice? She didn't want to think about that. Every time her mind wondered about where she would be if she wasn't all alone here in New York city, she forced herself to do something else. She just couldn't bring herself to think about it. As if this reality wasn't depressing enough, she couldn't make herself even more depressed by thinking about the alternative. But…what if she..no forget it. You've made up your mind and this time have the guts to stick to it.

Her phone rang. She checked the call id. Adrian. She knew she was just checking up on her again like she did five times a day. And its not that she wasn't grateful to her friend for making sure she was you know, still alive, but it didn't really make her feel all that better. And she still finds in weird that after being so adamant about going to school in California, so much so she should add, that she jeopardized her relationship, she just got up and ran away to New York with Omar the second he came back for her. She decided to let this one go to voicemail. She started thinking about John again, he would be just finishing daycare, so Ricky would be picking him up any minute. It would take them about 30 minutes to get home and then Ricky would probably be making dinner, so if she called in about 40 minutes she can get a good amount of skyping in before they have dinner. Their morning skype call was cut off short earlier today because Ricky had to get John to daycare earlier than usual. She checked the time every five minutes. Ughhh is time moving like extra slow or something? She thought. She resisted the urge to call earlier, knowing it would be no use. They would still be on the road anyway and she would've just have to them back again. Finally, it was 4:15, she knew she should give them an extra five minutes to get in, but she couldn't wait. She dialed Ricky on skype hoping the computer was already on. It took a few minutes and she saw the Ricky's legs as he answered hello and then disappeared from the screen, giving her a view of their…his couch.

"Uhh Hey Ricky?"

"Hey Amy", Ricky's voice called from the other side of the room. There was a bit of shuffling around… "one sec, we just got in and John is by the door taking his shoes off. Alright buddy, lets go, there's someone who wants to talk to you."

"MOMMY!" Amy heard John yell out and her heart started racing like she just sprinted across central park.

Finally she sees her son on the screen.

"MOMMY!" John yelled out again, seeing her on the screen.

Hey Buddy! I missed you so so so much, but I'm going to be coming home soon for a little bit and I have some fun surprises for you.

Yay! I miss you too mommy.

They talked for another half hour and then it was time for John to have some dinner. She and Ricky spoke for a minute or two, just to talk about what time she would be calling again in the morning and arrangements for when she came home that weekend, before the call was ended. Amy was once again sitting alone in her apartment.


	4. Unexpected Arrival

Ricky just finished putting John to bed, when he hears a knock on the door. That's weird, he thought, he wasn't expecting anyone and it was pretty late. "Coming" he calls out. He opens the door shocked to see who was on the other side.

"Hey Ricky"

"uh…uumm…Amy, what are you doing here? I thought you weren't going to get in until tomorrow afternoon?"

I know, my afternoon class got cancelled today and I just couldn't wait any longer to see John so I checked the flight schedule as soon as I found out this morning, and managed to get a flight out this afternoon. This way I'd get a whole full weekend with him. I thought about calling but just didn't get a chance. I had to rush and get to the airport as soon as I found out about the flight. I texted you from the cab on the way here, didn't you get it?

"No, I haven't looked at my phone for the past hour. I had to give John a bath and it took like 3 stories to finally get him to sleep. "

"Oh…he's already asleep?" Amy said disappointed.

"Yeah Amy, he's already asleep. It's like almost 9:30 at night."

"Oh…well...uhhmm would you mind if I woke him up? I really really miss him Ricky."

"I don't know Amy", Ricky said trying to hide his annoyance "like I said it took like 3 stories to finally put him to sleep."

Oh come on, its not like he has to get up early tom. Its Saturday and I can take him with me so you wouldn't have to worry about him. I already called my mom from the cab and she said that the house is still available so I'm going to spend my weekend there. I can take John with me and bring him back before I leave on Sunday. Just…please Ricky…I just really really want to see him.

"Fine" Ricky said exasperated but opening the door wider to let Amy in. "But I don't know if it's a good idea to bring him to your moms house tonight. He'll be too tired and it would make sense to make him get up just to go back to sleep at the house. You can say hi to him and I'll bring him over in the morning."

"Great thanks" Amy said, "I really appreciate it Ricky"

"Yah Yah, don't worry about it"

"No really" Amy said, putting a hand on his elbow "I know its not easy, having to take care of him full time, if I could go home every weekend Ricky you know I would"

Amy looked so sincere that just for a second he forgot about the whole fight before New York. When she told him she wanted to call off the wedding, before she started packing her things to go to the airport and fly out of their lives.

"Don't worry about it Amy, it wasn't too long ago when it was you who had him full time while you went to school and I had him on the weekends. At least college is a little bit more flexible to work around with than highschool". He was about to reach out and comfort her into a hug, and then stopped himself, realizing what he was just about to do. Habit, he said in his head. The reaction to pull Amy into a hug was probably nothing more than just a habit he had gotten use to in the past year.

"Thanks" Amy said again, walking pass him towards the bedroom.

Amy took some time to adjust to the dark. She sat down on the bed stroking his hair for a few minutes just admiring her son. She sat like that for a while. Ricky was leaning against the door frame watching them both. Amy looked back up at Ricky, looking a little nervous and Ricky smiled and nodded at her, "go ahead Amy, its fine. Besides, you're right its not like he has to get up early tomorrow and he'll be happy to see you".

Amy looked back at John and started rubbing his back. "John" Amy called out softly, "Hey John buddy, its me" It took a few more minutes and John finally opened his eyes, sensing some commotion on his bed. "Mommy?" He said sleepily opening his eyes. Mommy! He said a little more loudly when he realized that his mom was back. He tried getting up but sleepiness and tiredness won over his little three year old body and couldn't do more than turn his body around and reach out for his mother.

"Hi baby" Amy said, almost in tears picking him and cradling her son in her arms. "I miss you so much baby"

"I miss you mommy" John said, he eyes closing. He was already falling back asleep.

Amy knew she should tuck him back in bed and call a cab and head over to her mom's house. But she couldn't let go. Not just yet. She leaned her back against the wall at the head of the bed and just held John in her arms, just like she did years ago when he was still an infant, watching him while he slept. Ricky had left the room and she can hear dishes and the water running in the kitchen sink.

Amy felt someones hand gently shaking her shoulder. "Amy…" The voice called out.

"Huh?" she said, opening her eyes and seeing Ricky in front of her. "omg Ricky I'm so sorry, how long have I been out?"

"A little over an hour. I washed the dishes and finished up some homework to give you and John more time, and when you didn't come out, I came in here and found you asleep. "

She just realized that John was still asleep in her arms. "Night buddy" Amy said, kissing John on the forehead.

"Here let me…" Ricky picked John up from Amy's arms and help her put him back on the bed. Ricky laid John comfortably in the middle of the bed and Amy pulled the blankets up to his chin.

Amy started to get up from Johns bed. And took her phone out to call a cab.

"Uh listen Amy, its pretty late. I really don't mind if you stay here for the night. You and John can sleep on the couch and I can sleep here for tonight, since there's not much room on this bed.

"oh, no Ricky its fine, I can go to my moms house"

"No, really Amy I don't mind" Amy was about argue again but the thought of having to stay up and wait for a cab and then drive home to her moms house and dragging all her bags up just to find something to sleep in, it would be another hour at least before she can be in bed. "Okay" Amy said giving in, "If you really don't mind".

"Like I said Amy, it's fine".

By the time Amy had changed into something to sleep in, the pull out couch was already set up, with John asleep in the middle. "Thanks Ricky" Amy said, climbing into bed with John as Ricky headed towards Johns bedroom.

"Anytime Amy", Ricky said, as he closed the bedroom door behind him.


	5. A lack of social life

_**Authors Note: Thanks so much for the reviews. I really appreciate all your thoughts and comments. This is definitely a RAMY story, but just bear with it for now. Its not always going to go in the direction that we might all want but I am a big Ricky and Amy fan and have no doubt that these two belong together. Again thoughts and critics all welcome...they really help me decide which way the story is going to go. This is possibly also my last update until the weekend. **_

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><p>Ben and Amy are on the couch, studying for tomorrow's midterm. It's been almost 3 months since Ben moved to New York for the fall session and almost 2 months now that Amy has been living on the top unit of one of Leo's properties. At first Amy downright refused when Ben offered the place again to her, after bumping into him during frosh week at the university. But since then, they started spending a lot of time together and for some reason, Ben hasn't been as stalkerish as he has been, when she was with Ricky. A month later, she moved out of her apartment, into the free apartment that Leo had offered her. IT just made so much more sense and she can afford to fly to California more often with the money she's saving to see John. She moved into the smaller space upstairs since she no longer needed the extra room.<p>

At first she thought it would be weird, living in one of Ben's father's property, with the intention of ignoring Ben as much as she could. But again, Ben has really laid off the creepy I'm in love with you thing since he's moved to New York. Actually, she doesn't even remember the last time Ben hit on her since they've both been here in New York. He's actually made a lot of new friends, and has them over a lot in his basement apartment. So it worked out that Ben got the bigger basement unit, at least this way the noise were minimal when his new gang was hanging around.

"So Amy, there's this concert that Janice invited me to this weekend."

"Who's Janice again?" Amy asked without looking up

"Okay you've only met her like 5 times. You know if you don't make any effort, you're never going to make friends here in New York."

"I'm not here to make friends Ben, I have plenty of friends in California, and I have you and Adrian here."

"First of all, you hardly ever go out with me OR Adrain and second of all, you're only 18! Come on loosen up, have fun, party once in a while. You're like in NEW YORK! What about those two words doesn't want to make you go out and trash the city? "

"Okay honestly Ben", Amy said finally looking up, a little exasperated. "I just want to get through my first year of college okay. I'm already having a hard time being away from my son and honestly I don't know if I can take it anymore. So for me the only thing I care about is kicking ass in my program, which is the main reason why I wanted to go to school here anyways and figure out the rest of my life with my son. So thank you Ben, but no thank you. If YOU want to waste your tuition money 'trashing' the city as you put it, then be my guest. But I can't afford to get less than 90 percent in any of my courses, especially if I want to keep getting a scholarship, and especially if I want to keep being able to apply for financial aid".

"Alright Alright, you don't have to get too snappy", Ben said in between text messages. He had his textbook open on his lap but has spent most of this study session exchange numerous texts and checking his twitter and other social accounts.

"I'm just saying that I don't want to do poorly in any of my courses, or worst fail" Amy continued "and I wouldn't want to see you fail any of your courses either. So I think it would be a good idea to take a break from the phone and actually try to get some studying done"

"Okay fiiine mom whatever" Ben said rolling his eyes but he put his phone aside and attempted to read the foreign text in front of him.

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><p>Ricky was quite enjoying this make out session with Clementine. They were in her apartment, practically half naked on her couch. Despite the fact that it was almost winter, it was getting really hot inside her apartment. At first Ricky had no desire acting on any of Clementine's advances. It was pretty clear that she wanted him but Ricky just couldn't make himself interested. It scared him at first, given his history and the fact that Clementine was absolutely drop dead gorgeous. 2 years ago, he wouldn't have waited so long to get her into bed, even if it meant that he was already in a relationship. But then after Amy left, he just didn't see girls the same way anymore. He tried flirting back but it was hopeless. Was he really that out of it? Did turning his life around for the past 6 months ruin any chances he had with being with any other girl again? Apparently not, because weeks later he decided to accept Clementine's invitation to come up to her apartment after walking her home and their relationship gradually advanced after that.<p>

He hated to admit it, but part of the reason he hesitated jumping into a relationship with Clementine was because he was scared of what Amy would think. But why should he? He was the one who was willing to go ahead with the wedding. HE in HIS mind did EVERYTHING he could to make their relationship work just so John could grow up with both his parents together. But Amy was the one who didn't want to go through with it. So why should he be the one to feel guilty to start a new relationship? Besides, Amy had moved in with Ben in New York. Okay, well not really but it was practically the same thing as moving in, accepting Leo's offer to be one floor away from Ben. So if there was ever any thought in Amy's mind that Ben is actually the one for her, then she can go right ahead and test that theory out anytime, with them living under the same roof and all. Who knows, maybe that was her intention all along.

Meanwhile, he's excelling in all his classes, has a lighter load from having taken summer school and was now working more hours as the new manager at the butcher shop and had John in the daycare right at the school where he too was doing really well. He now also had most weekends off, since Nora and Anne offered to look after him on alternate weekends. So John is getting to know most of his family and spending quality time with them. This gave him the flexibility to spend time with his hot new girlfriend. Which he has been spending a lot of his weekends with lately, and just recently began sleeping over on Friday nights after class. At first he wasn't sure if he should mention it to Amy, but then decided that she should know. She was going to find out anyway and would rather hear it from him than anyone else. He expected her to be mad but all she said was that she was happy for him and she actually sounded like she really meant it. It wasn't exactly the reaction he was preparing for but he'll take it. This probably meant that if she didn't care, she was probably pursuing her own new relationship. With Ben maybe? Although he did ask and but all he got was that she was too preoccupied with school and work that she has no time for a social life. So really he had absolutely no reason to feel guilty. He has the life that most men envied and he deserves to be happy about that. But he still can't help worrying about Amy regardless. Probably because she was the first girl that he was actually ever really serious about. The first girl he was willing to have a monogamous relationship with.

Amy and Ricky were on the phone with each other, discussion the weekend arrangement with John. Amy was flying home and was going to take John for the whole weekend.

"Hey sorry to be calling so much later than I said I would, but I took an extra shift at work today" Amy said

"No worries, I was busy with John anyways and just put him to sleep, I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to talk to him today"

"Yeah me too, I'll just have to wait till our morning skype call tomorrow" Amy said, and Ricky couldn't help but notice the sadness in her voice. "Anyways, about this weekend, my flight should land by 7, I'm going to cab over to my moms house to drop my bags and pick up the car, so I should be by to pick up John by 9 latest.

Ricky was afraid that Amy was going to bring up Clementine, but she didn't and felt relieved. He did what he thought was the mature and responsible thing to do by telling her, but he didn't like want to get into any discussions about it either. Besides, right now its fun being with Clementine. When or if it gets more serious, then they can start having some discussion about it. But at the same time, Ricky still couldn't help wonder how Amy was doing. He knew he shouldn't really worry or probe any further, it really wasn't any of his business. Amy even mentioned that contrary to what he might think, she really didn't see Ben as often as he probably thought she did. Not that he cared at all if she saw Ben. When he asked about Adrian, he got the same response saying that she seemed to be practically married to Omar so she didn't see her much at all either. He couldn't help it, he was worried about Amy and was hoping that she was just exaggerating and was at least getting out once in a while. He texted Adrian to ask about Amy, and her reply was 'huh? who's that? If you mean the girl who kept promising to marry you and then backing out, she hasn't replied to my last two messages so who knows with her. Is she even still in New York?' confirmed it all. He didn't know why this bugged him so much, and against his better judgement, texted Adrian and even Ben to try and keep an eye out for Amy.


	6. Decisions

Ben and Amy walked into the Dean and Deluca's near their apartment. It was almost dinner time and they've spent most of their day cramming for midterms. They've been munching on snacks all day and neither of them had an appetite for dinner so they decided to grab a coffee and something light to eat.

"I've got this" Ben offered

"No don't be silly, I can pay for my own coffee"

"No really" Ben insisted, already grabbing his wallet out of his back pocket, "just grab us a seat and I'll be right over"

"Alright fine" Amy said defeated and headed towards their usual seat by the window.

She was staring out of the window when Ben came over with their order. She hardly noticed when Ben sat down across from her.

"Your coffee awaits madam" Ben said waiving the cup under her nose.

"Oh sorry Ben" Amy said looking away from the window a little startled, "I was just thinking."

"About John?"

"Yeah, John and a few other things"

"Listen Amy, I know you probably don't care what I have to say and all, but I don't think New York is for you."

Amy looked at Ben visibly shocked and a little angry.

"What are you talking about? I have been wanting to go to this school for years! YEARS BEN! This is my dream and this is the only time I'm going to get to live out this dream. So what if John is like a million miles away. Like yeah I feel kinda guilty being away from him and all but at the same time, why do I have to give up everything I've always wanted just because I made the mistake of being a teen mom? Why couldn't I be both a teen mom and still get to do the same things I've dreamt of doing? I think it's an awful stereotype that teen moms have to give up everything in their lives just for their kid. I mean what kind of message are we giving young women? Forget your dreams just because you got pregnant? Like seriously, that's whats wrong with this society…."

"alright I got it" Ben said interrupting Amy's rant, looking a tad uncomfortable.

"Sorry, I just got a little worked up" Amy said, turning a little red from embarrassment as she realized that she was causing a small bit of commotion and some other patrons were glancing at their table.

"So like I said, I don't think you can stay here" Ben said nonchalantly taking a bite of his sandwich.

Amy's shoulder dropped and she relaxed more into her seat. "Yeah I can't, can I?" Amy replied in defeat; Ben's words finally sinking in, realizing that Ben knew all along what she's been thinking.

They sat in silence for a while. Amy starred at her coffee cup, holding it with both hands at the table in front of her. Ben continued to eat his sandwich, allowing Amy to absorb and think about what she had just come to realize. Though Ben knew that she's been feeling this way all along and she was probably just scared to say it out loud. He knew how proud Amy could get. Like she made this huge decision, knowing that a lot of people didn't exactly approve of it and she couldn't back out of it no matter what, as if she needed to prove something to them.

A few more minutes passed until Amy finally spoke again, a little quieter this time.

"You know, I honestly thought that once I got here, everything would just fall into place. Last year I just had all this pressure you know. I felt like I was going to implode or explode or something. I couldn't think straight. I really really tried to do what I thought was right and I thought that marrying Ricky was the right thing. Then after I wasn't sure anymore and then I thought well what if I end up resenting Ricky and John because I never got a chance to go to Hudson? And then when I got that early acceptance, I was thinking well is that fate telling me what I should do? I was just so confused and scared and unsure for so long, I just needed to get away. I thought maybe if I came here to live out my dream, I can get my degree, then get a successful career and then take care of John not having any regrets in life"

"There's nothing wrong with doing just that and their program in California is just as a good as the one here." Ben said

"Yeah you're right…wanna know something?"

Ben looked at her with a raised eyebrow, taking a sip of his coffee and waited for her to continue.

"I already emailed someone at the school in California asking about a transfer. I mean it's not like I was thinking I wanted to transfer. I just thought, it'd be nice to have that information in case something happened with John and he needed me to be with him full time, or something happens and Ricky can't look after John anymore you know. Just for stuff like that.

"And…" Ben asked, "What did you find out?"

"Well I got an email back pretty quickly. Like she responded in like less than 24 hours, which I thought was really fast for college advisors. Usually you have to email them a few times before you get an answer..." Amy rambled on.

"okay and?" Ben asked again, getting a little more impatient, knowing that Amy was just dragging this conversation on.

"And…she said, its just a matter of me filling out a form and getting it signed by my advisor here. I just can't do it in the middle of a term".

"So the real question is; are you going to get it processed before the next term starts? Or are you going to wait till the year is over?" Ben said more as a statement than a question. Although he probably already knew the answer.

"Well if I get it signed before midterm exams are over, they can probably process it before the break and I can start the next term in California."

Alright then, toast to that Ben said raising his coffee cup before taking a sip.

"But…" Amy said, then paused

"Oh god Amy, what now?" Ben said starting to get annoyed. He thought they were done with this conversation and as much as he wanted to be a good friend and be there for Amy to weight out this decision, he really didn't want to spend the rest of the night in a 'should I, should I not" conversation dilemma. Especially since he was already 100 percent sure of the outcome.

"Well" Amy said, not sure if she wanted to continue a little embarrassed about what she was about to say, "that means I'll be going to the same school as Ricky" Amy finally said and then wishing she hadn't as soon as she said it out loud.

Ben just rolled his eyes. "Honestly Amy? That's what you're most worried about?" He grabbed their empty coffee cups and dirty napkins and got up to leave, shaking his head.


	7. Girl of the Hour

**Authors Note: Thanks again for all the reviews. Much loved and very appreciated. Will try to update sometime in the middle of next week but definitely by the weekend.**

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><p>Amy walked around the crowded pub trying not to spill the drink she held in her hand. She already got bumped twice by some randoms. The second time it happened a bit of her drink spilt out of her cup and dripped all the way down her arm. She was trying to locate where Ben had gone. They both had their last midterm today and Ben insisted that they went out to celebrate, especially since this was her last night in New York. She was flying out to California tomorrow and going to school there. She hasn't told anyone but her parents yet. It all happened really fast and she didn't want to have to deal with a bunch of phone calls and having to explain to a bunch of people numerous times why New York didn't work out. She figured she'll just wait to deal with it until she gets back.<p>

Oh good there was Adrian.

"Adrian!" Amy called out

"Heeyyyyyyy" Adrian said as soon as she was able to locate where the voice was coming from. Amy noticed that she was already a little bit tipsy. Though none of them were legally allowed to drink yet, Adrian and Ben's friends always managed to find a place where they could easily order alcohol with out half the secret service scrutinizing their id. Amy finally reached Adrian and Adrian put a loose arm around Amy, making this Amy's third attempt of trying to keep her drink inside her cup.

"HOWS THE GIRL OF THE HOURRRRRRR!" Adrian screamed over he music slurring her words a bit "LAST NIGHT IN NEW YORK! WE GOTS TO **PARTEHHHHHH**" Adrian said the last part even louder and a whole group of strangers cheered. They found the booth where Omar and Ben and a bunch of Ben's friends where sitting listening to the band. Some of Ben's friends who were in a band are supposed to go on soon after.

Adrian sat right beside Omar and Omar put his left hand around her and Amy squeezed herself right beside her.

"So Amy you don't seem at all drunk enough for this being your last night in New York and all" A girl with nose piercing, who was also sitting beside Ben said.

"You are absolutely right Janice" Ben said agreeing and motioned for one of the servers to come over. "A round of shots for everyone, just put it on my tab"

"you got it sweetheart" the server in the too tight tank top and the really short mini skirt said, winking before she left.

Ricky put the glass of wine down after pouring some in Clementine's glass. He raised his own glass to Clementine and said "to midterms finally being over. May we and all our friends pass with great honour"

Clementine giggled and clicked her own glass with Ricky's before taking sip.

"Are you sure you don't want to go out and celebrate with everyone else" Ricky asked again. Ricky wrapped an arm around Clementine and she leaned her body on him, getting more comfortable on the couch. "We can go to the pub and see who's there" Ricky added, reaching to put his own wine glass on to the table.

Clementine got up and sat facing Ricky. She put her own glass down on the table and took of her white top exposing her black laced bra. "Nope" she said a little seductively, "I would rather stay here with you, besides its getting really hot in here".

Ricky couldn't help himself and leaned forward to kiss Clementine on the lips pulling her back onto the couch so that he was now lying on top of her. They kissed aggressively for quite some time, Clementine giving out satisfied moans every so often.

"You're right" Ricky said taking a bit of a break from their little make out session, "this is definitely a much better way to celebrate


	8. New Campus

**Authors Note: Just a bit of a teaser before the main weekend update. **

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><p>Amy Juergens tried to read the campus map she had in her hand to try and locate her first class of the day at Valley Glen California local college. So much has happened in the last few weeks in such a short time that she barely had time to breathe. After she and Ben left the coffee shop, she had called her dad and they ended up having a really long but surprisingly meaningful conversation. She had thought about calling her mom at first, but decided that if she wanted to get an honest answer, her dad was her best bet. Not that she didn't value her mom's opinion, but Amy knew Anne would just go along with whatever Amy decided, just like she always did. And this time she didn't want to just be 'supported' of her decision, she just wanted someone to tell her exactly what she needed to do. She was tired of having to make decisions all the time. She was tired of having to choose 'what's right' when really she usually rarely have any idea what that is. She was tired of constantly second guessing herself. She was sick and tired of having to weigh in one decision over another and then changing her mind in the end. It feels like that's all she's been doing ever since she found out that she was pregnant at 15, having not only to make decisions but making sure she was making the right decision. And frankly as they say, she was simply just sick and tired.<p>

A few minutes after she hung up the phone with her dad, she called her mom to tell her the news. The next day, she wrote her last midterm at Hudson University, stopped by the advisers office, filled out paper work and had a going away party with Adrian and Ben and some of his friends, all in a matter of days. And now after all that, she's again second guessing herself and thinking maybe she should have just stayed in New York.

At least she would have known were her classes would have been, instead of walking around in circles in this god forsaken campus. Who designed this layout anyway? Amy looked at her watch and her first journalism class is going to start in less than 5 minutes. Amy sighed and was about to walk up to a girl who was standing by a post texting on her phone to ask for some direction when she hears a familiar voice call out her name. She turned around to see Ricky…and he wasn't alone. Clementine was with him and she notices Ricky awkwardly let go of her hand and they approach closer.

"Is everything OK?" Ricky asked looking a little worried and confused. "Is John Ok? "

Amy realized that she actually have not talked to Ricky at all since the she finished her midterms and he had no idea about her decision to move back to California. Anne had picked up John from Ricky's apartment on the way to pick up Amy from the airport and her dad had been the one to drop him off at Margaret's and Sanjay's house when it was his turn to get him for the holidays. So she hasn't seen or spoken to him at all since she's moved back.

"yah Ricky, John's fine"

"So you're not here looking for me?" Ricky asked now more confused than ever

"Honestly Ricky this is 2014, if I was looking for you I would do what any normal person would do in this day in age and use a phone" Amy said a little annoyed at the ridiculousness of the question. "oh sorry, hi Clementine" Amy said finally acknowledging her presence. Clementine only smiled back, feeling very awkward.

"Wait, you're not…are you, are you…trying to enroll here?" Ricky asked stuttering a little, noticing the campus map Amy was holding in her hands.

"Not trying, did. I decided to move back to California. New York wasn't working out and I decided it would be best if I was here full time with my son." Amy said as a matter of frankly.

Ricky looked like he was trying to do NASA equations in his head, none of this was making any sense to him at this moment and Clementine was looking a little more uncomfortable.

"I think I'm going to head to class" Clementine said, needing to get away from the awkwardness of the situation. She gave Ricky as kiss on the cheek before walking away.


	9. Confronting the Situation

Amy tried to pretend she didn't notice the gesture, or that it bothered her at all that Ricky was seeing someone else. She was getting really good at pretending that she didn't care about certain things. She was also getting pretty good at hiding her real feelings. She's been doing that since she told Ricky that she won't be with him until he was ready to be in a monogamous relationship. She tried to understand him, she really did, but back then she was young and she still couldn't understand how he just couldn't stop what he was doing and just be with her. But the more mature she got, the more she realized that she couldn't force someone to a promise to make up some fake image of a family. If John was the only reason that Ricky was staying with her, then she couldn't be with him anymore. The logic was simple, you don't stay with someone if you aren't really in love with them and she knew she was going to be the one to have to do it. She knew Ricky wouldn't. He felt too obligated to keep his promise and she could tell he was doing everything he could to keep that promise. How do you stay with someone who felt 'obligated' to be with you. But, still it was hard, she knew she should have ended it sooner but a selfish part of her couldn't let go just then.

"What do you mean you enrolled here? When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me?" Ricky asked, bringing Amy out of her train of thoughts, still trying to get some clarity of the situation.

"I know Ricky, I'm sorry. I honestly didn't even realize that we haven't had a conversation about this. It all happened so fast. I filled out the transfer application as soon as my last exam was over and really didn't want to tell anyone over the phone. I thought it was best that I just explained in person as soon as I got back. And then things just got really busy and hectic over the break. I honestly haven't even seen anyone except my parents, Ashley and John of course since I've been back. I didn't even have time to drop him off at your parents place for Christmas, that's why I had to get my George to do it for me. I barely had any sleep these past two weeks let alone talk to anyone. But yes, we need to meet and talk about this and how things are going to change for John because of this" Amy said, trying to explain as much as she could to Ricky.

"Yes we do" Ricky replied back, finally gaining some understanding of what was happening. "And it's going to be sooner than later. You really should have told me about this a lot sooner Amy and frankly I think it's a little selfish that you didn't tell me sooner. I mean I get it, I get why you might have done this, but there are other people involved in this decision other than just yourself."

"Look Ricky, I get it okay, we'll talk. And I can tell you're not happy to see me here. To be honest, I'm not completely sure how I feel about coming to this school myself. But I had to do what was best for John and Me. We'll figure out the John situation later. But for now I really have to get to class. Do you know where this room is?" Amy asked showing Ricky her class schedule.

Ricky sighed. He didn't mean to make the impression that he wasn't happy she was here. He was just shocked and obviously wasn't expecting this. He was also just a really confused and wanted things explained, that's all.

"Look Amy I'm sorry, it's not like I don't want you to be here, it's not that all. Let's just talk about this ok. But yeah let me see your schedule".

Ricky told Amy exact directions on how to get there. Even though it had only taken her 5 minutes to find the classroom, Amy was more than half an hour late for her first class and had gotten a not so very friendly look from the class professor. Great just what I need, Amy thought as she tried to subtly find a spot to sit.

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><p>Amy walked into the campus coffee shop. She's supposed to meet Ricky here to talk about the whole relocation thing and what it means for John. She was about to find a quiet spot in the corner when she spotted a familiar dark haired girl. Adrian? What in the world? Amy thought.<p>

"Adrian? What are you doing here?" Amy asked when she got to the table she was sitting at.

"Well hi to you too Amy, so I see you made it back to California alive. I was starting to wonder" Adrian said looking up. "If you didn't disappear off the planet since that going away thing we had for you back in New York, you would have known that I transferred back here. Omar's project team got relocated back to California. He still needs to be in New York once in a while for meetings and what not but not enough that it still made sense to stay there" Adrian said a little smugly. "What the hell happened to you anyway?" Adrian said now in a more accusing tone, "you move back to California and you forget about all your friends? I spoke to Grace and even she hasn't heard from you at all. She didn't even know that you were moving back".

"Sorry, like I've been having to explain to everyone, I got busy" Amy said attempting to justify her herself.

"yah well so was I, but I still had time to pick up a phone and tell people I was back" Adrian said

"you don't have a three year old" Amy retorted back.

"So I guess you don't know that Ben is back either" Adrian said

Almost on cue, Ben walked in from behind Amy. He took the seat right beside Adrian and sat back with his hands around the back of his head, tilting the chair back a little on its back legs.

"What about me?" Ben asked

"Okay really?! What the hell is going on here?" Amy demanded "Don't tell me you go here now too?"

"Nope" was all Ben replied

"Then what the hell are you doing here?" Amy asked getting annoyed

"Like I said" Adrian started. "If you didn't go out into hiding, you would have found out that Benny here, the genius that he is, got suspended"

"What? Ben? OMG for what?" Amy asked feeling a little more badly for her friend

"I failed 3 of my courses, so they put me on academic probation. I should be able to apply back for next term. I have to complete some courses they've assigned for me, whatever. But then my dad saw my bank account and got a copy of my credit card bills, yadi yadi yada, and shipped me back to California like some fugitive getting deported. I'm pretty much on 'lock down' until I get my butt into gear." Ben said, using air quotes at the word 'lock down'.

"So what you're not doing anything until September?" Amy asked

"oh god no, sadly sister, I don't have that kind of luck. Leo is making me work full time both at the butcher shop and at the corporate office till I can reapply back at school. Listen I don't know what the hell I did in my past life or who I was, but it couldn't have been very good because I feel like Karma is making me pay big time" Ben said a little too dramatically.

"What the hell is this?" a voice said from behind them all. Ricky approached them with an incredulous look and now more confused than ever. What is this some early high school reunion? Did you bring back half of the New York population too Adrian?" Ricky said sarcastically.

"Wait you knew Adrian was back?" Amy asked Ricky

"Yah. Like I said, you were the only who disappeared"

"Okay but I didn't know about this bonehead" Ricky said, referring to Ben

"It's a long story" Amy sighed "I'll fill you in after we talk about John, come on we should probably go somewhere else"


	10. Late Night at the Diner

Ricky got up off Clementine's bed and started putting his clothes on.

"Do you really have to go? Just stay, it's not like you have John tonight. Meet Amy another time."

"Listen I wish I could, but I'm already late as it is. I promise I'll call you as soon as I get home. And I have an early shift at the Butcher shop tomorrow" Ricky said

"Alright fine" Clementine said sulking, "but make sure you call me"

Ricky heard his phone beep again. It was probably Amy, he was suppose to meet her at the diner near the school about half an hour ago.

"Okay I will, but I really gotta go" Ricky said, leaning over to kiss her forehead before heading out to meet Amy.

* * *

><p>Amy sat in the coffee shop just outside the campus. She was supposed to meet Ricky here after her first shift at the campus bookstore. She had applied for a job the same day she came to meet with the adviser during the break and they took her in right away. He was already 40 minutes late and she's texted him a few times and hasn't gotten a reply back. Where on earth could he be? The conversation with Ricky went on forever the last time they talked but they didn't really get a chance to talk formally about arrangements for John. Mostly they talked about how crazy it was that everyone was back again in the same school. It was beginning to be like high school all over again. She had also told him all about New York and he had filled her in on all the stuff she's missed with John since she's been gone. So they decided to meet up again. She wished they didn't pick such a late time to meet though, she was getting really tired and had an 8am class the next day. Well at least I'm getting some work done, she thought. She was using this time to catch up on her course readings. She checked her watch again. It was almost 10 o'clock and they were supposed to meet for 9. Forget it she thought and decided to leave. She still had to pick John up from her dad's and Kathleen's house. She started to pack up her stuff and started to get really weirded out realizing that she was the only person in this whole place. The waitress was nowhere to be found having given up on her after the third time she refused a refill on her coffee. Yup time to go, she thought. She'll just have to deal with Ricky another time.<p>

The parking lot was full when she got here more than an hour ago. They usually get a late dinner rush around that time. But now her car sat alone on the other side of the parking lot at the corner, the closest spot available at the time. She walked out of the diner and headed towards her car. She heard a commotion behind her as she crossed the parking lot.

"Where have you…" She started but then stopped when she realized that person was not Ricky.

"Expecting someone where you?" the stranger said.

"Uh yah, they should be here any minute" she said, glancing back inside the diner trying to see if there was anybody inside that could see her. She was already in the middle of the parking lot and a few feet away from the entrance.

"So why does it look like you're leaving?" The guy asked looking over her shoulder. "that your car over there?"

"Yah well I forgot something not that it's any of your business so if you excuse me" Amy said and turned around to try and get into her car. The guy was standing a few feet away from her but she could already smell the alcohol off his breath.

"Hey not so fast" the guy said following her. Amy just reached her car and she was about to open the door and drive off when the guy grabbed her by the arm and pushed her against the side of her car.

"LET GO OFF ME!" Amy said screaming, hoping someone was around to hear. The man covered Amy's mouth with his right arm. Amy decided she was going to fight back. She took the keys she had in her hand, holding it like a knife and used all her force to hit the man at the side of his face. This was enough to get him to let go.

"Son of a…"

Amy used this as an opportunity to open her car door but the door had locked again, with shaking hands she tried to press the unlock button but it gave the man just enough time to recover. The man grabbed her again by the arm and Amy squirmed and broke free deciding that running to the road was the safest route to go at this point. The man ran after her but lost his balance and tripped, but as he did so he managed to grab Amy's right leg sending her body flying forward to the gravel ground that was the parking lot. She felt her forehead make contact with a rock. She tried getting up again, but felt really woozy and felt something warm dripping from her head, down the side of face.

She heard tires squealing and then heavy footsteps heading towards them. Oh god, this is it she thought, they're going to grab me, **fight back Amy fight back** a voice inside her head screamed. She tried to find the strength to get up and break free.

Suddenly the man was pulled free from her and she could hear some commotion behind her. She tried getting up again but it was no use. It was like the ground was moving around underneath her, which started making her feel nauseous and she tried not to throw up. Instead she tuck her knees underneath her body and laid forward with her arms crossed in front of her on the ground and rested her forehead on them, trying to make the word stop spinning around her.

She laid like that for what seemed like forever. She can still hear something going on behind her but everything sounded muffled, like she was listening from under water. _'Get up, find help'_ the voice inside her said. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she tried to scream again.

"_Hey Amy shhh, its me, it's Ricky, it's okay. It's going to be okay. You're okay now_" He rubbed her back as she laid there and tried getting her up. "_Amy try to turn around, I need to see you_" Amy continue to lay there with her head still rested on her forearms, while Ricky continued to rub her back. "_Come on Aimes_", Ricky said again, using the nickname George had for her, though he had no idea what made him use it, "_try to turn around_"

"_Is she okay_?" A lady voice called out.

"_you need to call to cops_" Ricky called back

"_Already did and we've sent for an ambulance too_"

"_Did you hear that Amy? Help is coming. Just please let me look_" Ricky said pleading. Why did his voice sound like he was about to cry? Amy thought.

Amy started to pull herself up and felt Ricky's strong arms around her, steadying her.

He's been acting on instincts ever since he saw that man attacking Amy. It took everything in him not to drive his car right into that man's body. Finally she was sitting back on her knees with Ricky kneeling right in front of her.

"_Oh god sweetheart_" Ricky said examining the bleeding cut on her head and the dirt all over her hair and face. Small pieces of gravel stuck to her forehead and on the side of her arms "_Oh baby, I'm so sorry, I'm so so sorry. I should have been here. There's no excuse, I should have been here with you_" Ricky said almost on the verge of tears. He could feel his eyes water, but he needed to be strong for Amy. How could he be there for her if he was going to start loosing it. If anyone should be in tears, it should be Amy, but she just sat there holding a hand on the bleeding cut on her head.

"_Here Aimes_" Ricky said, taking off his jacket and wrapping it around Amy's shoulders. Carefully, he starting wiping of some of the gravel off her face. He pulled his shirt off, crumbled it up and held it against the wound. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. He could feel her shivering in his arms and held her more tightly. He can hear the sirens coming closer. Amy could hear it too, only it didn't sound close at all. Everything around her still sounded muffled. She could hear Ricky's voice, but couldn't really make out what he was saying. She was so cold. At that moment, her body started to feel really heavy. She felt her body sink into Ricky's and she wanted nothing more than to just sleep. She could feel her eyes closing and suddenly everything went black.


	11. Hospital

Ricky sat waiting in the hospital visitor's area. Amy's parents were inside talking to the doctor. Everyone else had already arrived and they were scattered around in pairs waiting for some news. The only other person not sitting with anyone was Ben who sat on the other side of the waiting room farthest from Ricky. Ben sat with his arms crossed and his head back staring at the ceiling. He was the first to get here and had been sitting in that exact same position since. He didn't even acknowledge anyone when they got here but they understood enough to give him his space. Ricky also stayed to himself and barely spoke to anyone, except Anne and George to fill them in on what had happened. He just couldn't bring himself to talk to anyone right now. How could he face their friends and tell them that he was the reason Amy was here? If he hadn't been late meeting Amy, none of this would have happened. Instead he chose to have some fun in bed with Clementine.

Ricky heard footsteps and some voices and recognize one of the voices belonging to George. He looked up in time to see the Doctor walk away. George stood beside Anne and began to speak.

"We just want to thank everyone for being here. Fortunately, the doctor said that Amy should be just fine. They are worried that she might have suffered a slight concussion so they will be keeping her here overnight just to monitor her. Unless they notice any complications or she shows signs that she's suffered a more severe head injury, she should be able to go home tomorrow if not the day after"

"Oh thank the lord God" Ricky heard Grace say and everyone hugged each other in relief.

"Are they letting anyone see her?" Ben asked finally moving since he got there.

"Yes but just one or two at a time. She is resting right now and they're going to have to keep waking her up throughout the night in case she does have a concussion. So they don't want a lot of people in there at a time, it might be too overwhelming".

* * *

><p>Ricky sat on the single chair near Amy's hospital bed. A nurse had come by a few hours ago to wake her up and she should be coming around again soon. The cop had tried to get a statement from him when he got to the hospital. He racked his brains for as much detail as he could but for some reason he could only recall fragments of the events. Like someone showing him a picture slide show of what happened. He remembered seeing two people fighting as he neared the diner. He remembered pulling into the parking lot and realized that it was Amy fighting to get away from some man in a blue hooded sweater. He remembered seeing Amy fall and that was the time his memory went fuzzy. He remembered pressing hard on the gas and driving the car through the parking lot like maniac and then stepping hard on the break. He barely missed hitting the man by inches. Then suddenly he was on the ground punching and punching until there was blood everywhere. A guy in a white apron ran up to them and then held the hooded man down on the ground with his arms behind his back. He saw Amy hunched over on the ground. He remembered hearing sirens and then suddenly Amy was on a stretcher and he was climbing onto the back of an ambulance.<p>

The nurse came in again to wake Amy up for the second time that night.

"Hi she said, time to get her up again. You wanna do it?" She asked Ricky

"umm yah sure" Ricky said getting up from his chair and walked up to Amy.

"Aimes, get up. You need to get up for a little while again" Ricky whispered gently shaking Amy.

Amy stirred a bit but didn't open her eyes.

"Come on Aimes" Ricky said trying again, "Just for a little bit and then you can go back to sleep"

Amy finally opened her eyes.

"Ricky?"

"Hey Amy, how you doing?"

"Where are my parents?"

"Your mom had to get back home to Robbie. A sitter was looking after him and she couldn't stay out too late. George was going to come back after dropping Kathleen off, but I insisted that I could stay and told him to just get some rest and wait till the morning to come back. He finally gave in and said he'll bring breakfast." Ricky said, smirking a bit. "Ben was here pretty late too, he wanted to stay to make sure you were doing well, but he finally left with Leo", Ricky added thought not really wanting to mention the last part. However, he felt that it would probably make Amy feel better, that Ben wanted to be here for her too and right now this wasn't at all about him.

"Oh" Amy said, "but how come you're still here?"

Ricky tried not to take offense by the comment. It hadn't occurred to him that maybe he would be the last person Amy would want to see when she woke up. He was after all responsible for this whole mess. Maybe George should have stayed…or Ben.

Finally he replied and told her the truth "I didn't want to leave. I want to be here with you to make sure you're okay. John is safe with my parents anyways. I'll get him in the morning after your dad comes back and bring him by to see you"

"okay, that would be nice" Amy said, closing her eyes but trying to follow orders and still stay awake.

They chit chatted for a little bit more until the nurse finished studying her chart and told them it was okay to go back to sleep. But by then Amy had already dozed off.

Ricky starred at her for a few more minutes and carefully reached out and softly swept her bangs to the side, revealing the stitches she needed to get for her cut. He gently picked up her left hand, trying not to disturbed her and held them with both hands. He glided his thumb over her ring finger where his mother's ring and the small diamond he gave her when he proposed use to sit. "I love you Amy Jeurgens" Ricky said so quietly it was barely a whisper. He brought her hand up to his lips and gently kissed her hand. "I'm sorry for everything I've put you through. I just keep doing things to mess up your life and I know it's not fair to you".

Suddenly tiredness swept over Ricky and he felt his eyes get heavy. He laid his head down on the bed beside Amy. He was asleep in a matter of minutes.


	12. Complex Relationships

Ricky opened the door to his apartment and heard his phone ring. He looked at the caller ID. Clementine. He hasn't spoken to her at all since the accident two days ago. She must have called him like 100 times since then and sent him even more text messages. He's been at the hospital the whole time and just haven't gotten a chance to call back or text back. He knew that he would have to explain the whole situation and to be honest he wasn't really feeling up to it. He was exhausted from severe lack of sleep but mainly because he knew she would press for details and he didn't really feel like having to explain the whole version of the event, especially on the phone. He figured he would call her when he got a chance and then meet up in person so he could tell her then. He set his stuff down and took his jacket off before answering the call, but he was too late and the call went to voice mail. The message indicator blink, notifying him that he got a voice mail.

_Ricky, listen I just bumped into Adrian at the coffee shop and she just told me what happened. Look I'm sorry to hear about what happened but I just don't understand why you couldn't have called and told me yourself? Are you at the hospital right now? Just call me back okay. I don't know why you're avoiding me but really can you just please call me back? _There was a pause and then she quietly she added _I_ _Love you. _

What the hell was that about? Ricky thought a little annoyed, after listening to the message, I love you? She's never said that before and they had just started dating. Regardless, Ricky decided that he couldn't put it off any longer and called Clementine back.

"Ricky! Where the hell have you been? You know how worried I was? I went to your apartment a few times and at the butcher shop…."

"I know I'm really sorry" Ricky said interrupting Clementine's little rant "I've been at the hospital with Amy, I'm guessing you found out about the incident"

"I did and I'm sorry that happened to her but what I don't understand is why you couldn't call me, YOUR GIRLFRIEND and tell me yourself what happened? Do you have any idea what you put me through?"

Ricky rolled his eyes a bit, noticing that she emphasized the 'your girlfriend' part. He felt Clementine was being a little selfish and should be more understanding of the situation and he was a little surprise that she wasn't. Yah he hadn't called in a few days, but given what had happened, it wasn't all that unreasonable.

"Listen I said I'm sorry Okay, lets meet for coffee and we'll discuss everything then"

"Fine. Meet me at the coffee shop at the campus in an hour" Clementine stated and then hung up.

Ricky sighed and grabbed the leather jacket he just put away before dragging himself out the door.

* * *

><p>Ben was sitting on Amy's old student chair, in her old room. Amy was lying in bed but was sitting up and talking. She just got home from the hospital and Ben showed up with some soup Bunny made from the butcher shop.<p>

Her mom and Robbie were over and they were downstairs. They can hear Robbie and John playing in the living room.

"Soooooo how are you anyways" Ben asked.

"I have a massive migraine of a headache" Amy said, "But I'm actually not feeling all that bad. I know I look like hell, but really it looks worse than it feels" Amy said truthfully.

"You don't look like hell" Ben said "you always look gorgeous"

At any other time, Amy would have just rolled her eyes, got annoyed and made a comment about how Ben needed to give it up. But she just took this one as a nice compliment. It sounded more like a genuine complement than a come on. Besides, since New York, Amy has had a feeling that there was another girl in the picture, but Ben hasn't said anything to her. So Amy decided to just come out and confront him about it.

"So you seeing anyone new?" Amy asked bluntly

The question took Ben by surprise.

"Uh wow, well let's just skip the small talk shall we" Ben said, a little uncomfortable

"Ben you've been acting like you've wanted to mention something ever since we've gotten back. Just come out and say it"

"How would you know, I've barely seen you since New York and even then…" Ben voice lingered

"Is it that girl, umm whats her name…." Amy asked clicking her fingers, trying to remember the name of the girl Ben was always hanging around with.

"honestly?!" Ben asked looking incredulous "I think you mean Janice, but no it's not Janice"

"Give me a break, I have a head injury" Amy said jokingly

"What was your excuse in new York?" Ben said joking back

"Whatever Ben just telllll meeeee" Amy said whinning sounding more like a gossiping teenager than a mother of a three year old.

"Alright finnnne, if you must know…and really regardless I would tell you anyway because since Alice and Henry have been gone, I haven't had any one real to talk to; and I have been dying to talk to someone about this. All I've had is my somewhat step sister and she's a little too nosy for me. Like she thinks she knows everything, even though okay she's right most of the time but" Ben was now just rambling

"BEN!" Amy said loudly becoming impatient

"okay okay, this girl…" Ben said pausing a little before continuing "works for my dad at corporate. She's interning in the marketing department. She goes to your school actually for Marketing and Business. She's a smart girl. Maybe I'll apply for Marketing and Business for September. Do a complete change of majors you know, follow in the family business and take over the company" Ben said, knowing he was getting ahead of himself. But he's finally had a chance to really talk to someone about this and it was just nice not having to calculate what he was going to say in his head before he said them. He hasn't had anyone in a while he could just say anything to and this was nice.

"OMG what's her name? Do you have a picture? Wait but you just got back, how on earth did you meet someone so soon. OMG I thought for sure you were hooking up with that Jen…Janice girl" Amy said, also getting kinda excited about the news. It's nice to just sit and gossip and forget about real life problems for once.

Ben just rolled his eyes at Amy almost again forgetting Janice's name, and then continued to answer her questions.

"I know it's a little crazy. I've only known her for a few weeks, but she's really smart and funny and we get a long really well. We've been texting each other nonstop since we've met. And no I don't have a picture of her, her name is Sarah"

"Have you guys gone out on a date?" Amy asked pressing for more details

"See that's the thing. I mean we spend a lot of time at the office together, but I haven't actually asked her out yet"

"You haven't asked her out? Is she even single?"

"Yah no, I made some comment about a boyfriend once and she made it clear that she did not have one. But like, I don't know, what if she turns me down? Or like what if she thinks it's weird or inappropriate that the 'boss' son' is asking her out?"

"yeah, that is a little on the unprofessional side. You have that against you, especially if she's serious about this intern thing, and she doesn't know your family like I do"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ben asked

"Well I know Leo and he would be fine with it, and I know you're not trying to jeopardize anyone's job, but from her perspective and maybe other people in the office, you know I'm just saying. If it was anyone else you would probably think the same."

"yah, you think I haven't thought about that? That's why I haven't asked her out yet" Ben said

Amy frowned, deep in thought giving Ben's dilemma some serious thought. Finally after a few minutes she spoke and gave out what she thought would be the best advice to go with.

"I think maybe you should just give it some time, before you do anything. Hey you guys like spending time with each other, so just see where that leads you. You know you don't have to get so serious right away with every girl"

Ben chuckled knowing what Amy meant by that.

"Yeah I guess you're right. I don't want to screw up any chance I could have with this girl. Like I really really like her Amy".

"Wow, I don't know if I've ever heard you sound like that about a girl before. I mean I've heard you say it a million times. I've heard you tell ME you loved ME like I don't even know…but you sounded I don't know different when you said that?"

"Did I? I don't know maybe I'm just tired. Or sober. I haven't had a drink in I don't know how long. Maybe you've forgotten how I sound like when I'm not under the influence of something" Ben said starting to make light of the situation, not wanting the conversation to head to where it was going. For some reason he wasn't ready to admit those feelings yet. Not this time.


	13. Out of the Hospital

Ricky saw Clementine waiting at one of the tables at the coffee shop on Campus. She didn't look too pleased at all. With a heavy foot, he walked over to where she sat and took the seat in front of her.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was?" Clementine said, not even waiting for him to say anything.

"I said I was sorry, and I don't know why you're not more understanding about this. Amy got attacked. She's been at the hospital. I should have been at that diner Clementine. She almost died because of me." Ricky said, stating every sentence as a fact.

"So this is a guilt thing then? You spending all this time at the hospital with her? And from what Adrian told me she seems to be recovering fully well"

"Yeah it's a guilt thing and I would do the same for any of my friends". Ricky said truthfully getting more frustrated. He didn't understand why he had to justify any of this "I would be there for anyone else who was in this situation to make sure they were alright. Especially if I had something to do with it. Besides, I also had to take care of John at the same time over the past two days and was busy bringing him back and forth from my parents house to the hospital. John has a right to see his mother. Amy is John's mother."

"But then you forget about all your other responsibilities? And what about work? You didn't even show up for work and that's not like you. I can understand skipping class, but you'd never jeopardized this new management position for anything"

"Leo insisted I took the month off. And he's not charging me rent for this month. I tried to tell him that it wasn't necessary but he wouldn't budge. He knows about the situation and he wanted to help out and said that I've been too stressed out lately anyways. And if you know Leo, once he puts his put down about something no one can make him change his mind. He's the boss and he makes everyone know it, even if he is sometimes way too generous than what that person deserves".

They sat there in silence for a while. Both of them were fuming a little and not really wanting to say anything else.

Finally a few more minutes passed and Ricky began to speak.

"Listen I don't know if this is going to work out"

"What do you mean?" asked starting to get a bit defensive "We were fine up until Amy came back into the picture"

"This has nothing to do with Amy…"

"I think it has everything to do with her…I get that something serious happened to her, but why are you trying to be her knight in a shining armour? She has a lot of support and all her friends will be there for her" Clementine said interrupting, almost whining a little.

"Like I was saying" Ricky began again, "this is about us. It was fun and I thought maybe we could see if there was anything there. But I'm just not getting that"

"So this is it then? Its over?" Clementine asked, not looking at Ricky anymore

"I think it has to be. I'm sorry." Ricky said, really meaning it.

Without saying anything else, Clementine got up, grabbed her bag and stormed out, leaving Ricky alone at the coffee shop.

* * *

><p>Ricky pulled into Amy's driveway. He noticed Ben's new Mercedes already parked there and couldn't help feeling a little annoyed. He didn't want to feel jealous. He knew he had no right to be, but he could see Ben trying to take advantage of this situation to get back with Amy. He was always trying to take whatever advantage he could get.<p>

Finally he got out of the car and was about to Ring the bell when the door opened and he saw Ben probably about to leave.

"Oh hey Ricky. Here to see Amy?" Ben asked nonchalantly.

"Yah, I wanted to check up on her and I'm also picking up John" Ricky said, as a matter of fact.

Even though Ben was no longer trying to compete with Ricky for Amy's affection, he couldn't help teasing him a little, knowing exactly how to rile him up.

"Well, I just did. In fact I've been with her for the past two hours. Bunny made her some soup so I brought it over. I still remember how much she loves that beef broth we make."

"I know" Ricky said a little defensively, he wasn't about to let this bonehead think he knew Amy better than he did. He knew Ben was just trying to piss him off, but he couldn't help it "I use to make it for her all the time when we lived together" Ricky replied back, in a tone that seemed to imply a 'so there' attitude. What the hell was he doing? He couldn't believe he was giving into Ben's childish games.

"Well she seems a lot better. Any who off to work I go" Ben said excusing himself as he walked around Ricky towards his car.

Ricky took a few minutes to calm down before going inside. He didn't know what it was about Ben Boykewick that gets him so worked up.

"Hey Anne" Ricky said, walking by the kitchen. "I'm here to pick up John"

"Hey Ricky. John and Robbie are playing in the living room. His bag is upstairs with Amy. It should be all ready to go"

Ricky walked into the living room and found the two boys in the middle of a mess of toys. "alright John, its time to go but you have to put these things away first. Grandma is not going to be too happy if you leave her living room like this"

"No daddy. Five more minutes?" John asked

Ricky chuckled at John's attempt to negotiate knowing he really had no sense of what 5 minutes was. It was something he and Amy would tell him all the time when he didn't want to stop whatever he was doing. 'Alright John, 5 more minutes' they would say. Now John was starting to understand that 5 more minutes meant that he bought more time for himself.

"Alright, John 5 you can play for a little while longer. I'm going to talk to mommy for a bit, but I want all the toys put away and come say bye to mommy after you're done cleaning up" Ricky said giving him a kiss on the forehead. He patted Robbie on the head too, before turning to go upstairs to see Amy.

The door was slightly open but Ricky knocked anyway

"Uh come in?" Amy said, wondering who it could be as she was not expecting anybody

"Hey" Ricky said, awkwardly walking in. He hasn't been in this room in what was like ages. He remembered the time when he spent the weeknights here taking care of John while Amy was in New York. A lot of stuff has been packed up and there were boxes everywhere, but not much has changed.

Amy was sitting up on her bed with her laptop open in front of her, just surfing the internet and catching up on some emails from school.

"Oh right, his bag is over there"

Ricky intended to tell Amy that he was no longer with Clementine, but then he noticed the bowl of soup that Ben had brought over sitting on the night stand beside Amy's bed.

"So Ben was here?" Ricky said instead

"Yeah he came over to see how I was doing and we talked for a bit. Oh and he brought me some soup from the shop. God I miss that soup. I haven't had it in forever"

"So are you two together?" Ricky couldn't help asking. He knew he was being ridiculous but he couldn't stop the words that were coming out of his mouth

Amy gave him a strange look and said "um No, we are not together. Friends can bring friends a bowl of soup without it having to mean anything" Amy said sarcastically, not appreciating Ricky jumping to assumptions. And what's it to him anyways, he's finally got Clementine. Isn't that what he's wanted all along? He didn't even wait all that long after she broke it off with him to get together with her. Amy now too felt herself getting a little worked up. But then stopped herself and put on her 'I don't care' face.

Ricky sighed. "look I'm sorry. I don't want to upset you. It's just been a long day for me. I'm sorry I brought Ben up, I know you guys are close and I didn't really mean anything by it" Ricky walked over to wear John's things were waiting to be picked up and grabbed all his stuff just as John walked into the room.

"All done!" John explained meaning all the toys have been put away

"Good job buddy, go say bye to mommy. We have to go"

John jumped up on the bed and Amy squeezed him. "bye bud, I'll miss you. I'll see you in a few days okay?"

"but you said tomorrow you were going to take me for ice cream!" John said whining remembering a conversation he had with his mother earlier.

"oh that's right I did" Amy looked up at Ricky "Since I'm taking time off school, I told him I'll hang out with him tomorrow instead of having him go to daycare. I completely forgot or I would have asked you sooner."

"Um are you okay to like go anywhere on your own?" Ricky asked, unsure if Amy was well enough to even be out of the house, let alone be on her own.

"I've had two days to rest at the hospital and even then they said I was okay. I should be fine and if not I can always take my mom along to drive us."

"Why don't I just pick you up, we can get him ice cream together" Ricky offered

"No it's fine Ricky, I don't want to inconvenience you. I know you have a busy schedule"

"I have one class in the morning tomorrow and I've got a month off work. Don't ask. Leo insisted" Ricky said noticing a look on Amy's face when he mentioned he's got the month off "so I'll take him to daycare for the morning and we'll come by and get you"

"Yay yay yay!" John exclaimed, before Amy could reply

"Alright well he seems to be excited for that idea" Amy said chuckling "Why not. I'll see you guys tomorrow" Amy said to John, giving him one last hug.


	14. Friday Night Plans

Ben came into corporate wearing a brand new button down shirt and a navy blue Armani tie. By the way he was dressed you'd hardly believe that he just got kicked out of college. He looked so good in fact that you could even say his high school friends would hardly even recognized him. He was looking well…he was looking pretty corporate.

He rode the elevator to the fifth floor. The same floor that housed the marketing department of his father's chain butcher shops. The mail trolley was sitting by the elevator when the door opened. Ben casually stopped to scroll through the manila envelopes and plucked out half a dozen from the sorted piles. He walked straight into the cubicle where his favorite intern was working.

"Hey there, I picked these up for your boss" Ben said tossing the envelops he was holding down on the desk in front of what in his mind was one of the most prettiest girl he has ever laid his own eyes on.

"Oh great thanks, I'll make sure to go through them and have them sorted in the appropriate boxes" The girl replied trying to make a positive impression on the bosses son.

Ben paused before responding back, but finally he spoke, trying his best to sound as casual as possible.

"So you going to the team build dinner Friday night or what?"

"Yah of course, I wouldn't miss it. Besides I heard these things were really fun. Different from what most people would think a team build event would be" The girl replied back. She too was trying to be as casual as possible. As if she was talking to another intern and not the owner of the company. I mean it was his son but still, it was basically the same thing.

"Absolutely, the marketing department really know how to organize these things so they're usually pretty rad and everyone ends up having a good time. Anyway glad to know, so I guess I'll see you there. How you getting there?"

"Well I'm hoping to get a ride with Sam the other intern, we live in the same building but last I heard might not be able to make it, so if anything I could always cab it"

"You can tag along with me. I mean my dad pretty much dumped a whole bunch of work on me, one of his strategies for trying to keep me out of trouble so I'm gonna go straight there after work, but I can swing by your place on my way over"

"Yah? I mean, I don't want to trouble…"

"Oh please, it won't be any trouble at all"

" Okay great that sounds good then, I'll write down my address for you before I leave Friday?"

"Sounds good, anyways I better get to the board room. I have to sit in and take notes on some boring meeting the vp's are having. Fun" Ben said sarcastically

The girl chuckled a little and gave a small wave goodbye as Ben who was repeating "keep it together" in his head like some mantra, casually walked away and waited till he knew he was out of sight, before pumping his fist in the air.

* * *

><p>Amy drove the very familiar route from her mom's house to Ricky's apartment. She was feeling really happy and was singing along with the song on the radio. Ricky was going to pick John up from the campus daycare and then head home to meet Amy there. Ricky offered to just pick her up but for some reason she felt like driving. She hasn't done anything for herself for the last three weeks since she got home from the hospital. It feels like everyone was running around trying to accommodate for her and it was starting to annoy her. Though she wasn't exactly sure why. She knew they were all just trying to help. But she was fine, she has been for weeks. She was getting restless and gratefulness has now turned into annoyance. She needed to get out. Just be out on her own doing things or she was going to explode. Finally she convinced her mom that she was fine and went out early in the morning to do errands on her own. She drove herself to the campus for her 1pm meeting with the department adviser about going back to classes again. It was arranged so that she was excused from having to go to actual classes, so long as she kept up with the readings on the course syllabus and kept on top of the assignments. Most of her professors were pretty good about accommodating her, keeping regular communications with her through email. After meeting with the adviser, she had exactly the right amount of time she needed to go home, shower and get ready before having to head over to Ricky's to meet him and John.<p>

Things with Ricky were going pretty well too. The three of them have been spending a lot of time together since the day they both took John out for ice cream. It was nice knowing that they could still do things as a family even though they weren't officially a couple any more. The night she ended it, her greatest fear was that things would just fall apart between them and they would turn out to be that stereotypical split family that always fought over custody. She was really glad it never came to that.

They've managed to figure out a pretty good schedule for John that worked for the both of them. Though these past few weeks had been an exception since she's been off school and therefore was able to have John at her mom's place with her for the majority of the time. However, since the day when they both took John out for the ice cream, the three of them have been spending more and more time together. Ricky would stop by after school to visit with John and sometimes the three of them would go to the park. On the days Ricky had a late class, they would take a long walk around Amy's neighborhood. It was during one of these walks that Ricky told her that he was no longer with Clementine. The moment had been awkward. It came out of nowhere. They had just turned around to get back to the house, when out of no where Ricky just blurted it out. She didn't say anything for a long time after that. Almost like she was trying to take it in and analyze in her head what Ricky was trying to say to her. Finally when they were only a few houses away from her house, Amy said the only thing she could think off "that's too bad, sorry to hear that". And that was that.

Amy pulled her car into the parking lot of the butcher shop. She drove around to the back and parked her car in the same spot she used to park it when she was living in the apartment above it with Ricky. She noticed that Ricky's car was also already parked in it's usual parking spot which meant that they were probably already home. She walked through the side door, half expecting to see the usual trio, that where usually there whenever she walked into the shop during working hours. Instead, she saw an unfamiliar girl working behind the counter. She had almost forgotten that Bunny had taken another position at one of the other location, which led to Ricky getting promoted to manager. She knew Ben was in and out, but only really worked at the butcher shop locations when he was most needed. Now he was spending a lot of his time at the head office. She had seen Ben a few times since the day he told her about the intern. At first she thought that Ben was just chasing this new girl and warned him about messing with his dad's trust again and corporate was a very very dangerous place to do it. But after talking to him a few times, it seems that he was actually legitimately busy getting some real work done there, and what's weird was that he seems to be happy about it, which means that he actually like what he's doing. Amy warned him about getting too comfortable and even made a point to tell him that she hoped he wouldn't end up to be your typical rich kid that skipped college all together and went straight to the workforce.

The girl behind her asked if she needed any help. Amy was about to reply and tell her she was on her way up to see Ricky when she heard John's voice. "Mommy" he gleefully yet wrapping his arms around her just below her waist.

"Ready?" Ricky asked following right behind John.

"Yup. I did a lot of running around today but got lots of stuff done. Now I just can't wait to get out and have fun. I don't ever remember the last time I've been out for fun on a Friday night"

Ricky and Amy had discussed taking John to see the new animated movie. Ricky had checked the schedule earlier that morning before he and John left for school. The show wasn't till 7:30 and they had a few hours to kill till then. John had been talking about the arcade place. The kids in daycare must have all been talking about it. He and Amy use to take him there when he was still a toddler but they haven't gotten back since then.

"The movie doesn't start till 7:30. What do you think about taking John to eat n play and ordering a pizza from there" Ricky suggested. He also knew that Amy use to love going there.

"OMG yah. I haven't been there in ages" Amy exclaimed

"Ok then that settles it" Ricky said, taking John's hand and the three of them headed out off the butcher shop, towards Ricky's car.


	15. Ending on a Sour Note

**Author's Note: Thanks so much for all the reviews and the support. This is going to be the second last chapter in this story. The last chapter "The Conclusion" is going to be up sometime in the next 24 to 48 hours. I might sneak in one last chapter, an epilogue, after tomorrows update (****_let me know if you would be interested in an epilogue or leave with the conclusion_****) to tie up some loose ends**. **Hope you enjoy!**

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><p>Ricky pulled into the parking lot of the old arcade place. Amy is sitting in the passenger seat right beside him and John is strapped into his car seat at the back. A weird nostalgic feeling came over him as he put the gear into park. Amy turned around to address their 3 year old. "We're here? Remember this place?"<p>

John nodded almost too dramatically showing his excitement and wearing the biggest smile on this face. Ricky opened the door of the car the get out and went to the back to unbuckle John. After being set free from the constraints of his safety device, Ricky put John down on the parking lot and he quickly ran over to his mother and took her hand. The three went inside and was greeted by loud blasting music. Children were running around, with their parents close behind; swarms of teenagers were crowded around several arcade games cheering each other on. There were a few young high school couples walking around holding hands or sharing soda's and pizza's at the booths. Ricky walked over to the wait in line to order a large pizza for them to share and Amy took John to try and find a seat for the three of them. This being their usual routine, way back when the trio use to spend their Friday nights there.

Amy and John found a seat and Ricky joined them a few minutes later, balancing a large box of pizza and a drink tray with soda's and a juice box. Ricky and Amy chatted and ate while John concentrated on finishing his pizza slice and juice box. Finally after devouring two pizza slices, John began to get restless and decided he really wanted to go and play some games.

"Alright John, just wipe your face off. I'll go get us some tokens" Amy said, shifting her attention to her son.

"That's alright Amy I can go" Ricky offered.

"No I'll get it, just get him cleaned up" Amy said already getting up from the booth.

Ricky finished wiping John's face and hands clean. After a few minutes Amy still hasn't returned.

"Lets go daddy I want to play now" John said starting to get a little whinny, not wanting to wait inside the small booth any longer.

"Alright bud, why don't we go find your mom and see if she got our tokens"

The two headed over to where the token dispensers were. He looked around and finally spotted Amy standing in front of a dispenser but she wasn't alone. She was talking to a guy, someone he had never seen before. Is she flirting with him? Ricky continued to watch as he and John got closer. He can hear Amy laugh at whatever the guy was saying and then flipped her bangs away from her eyes. That was a signature Amy Jeurgens move. She was definitely flirty with this guy.

"Hey. I see you got held up" Ricky said when he finally reached the spot where Amy and the random nameless dude were standing.

"Oh Ricky, sorry. This is Mike. We have a class together. He was just catching me up on the stuff I've been missing"

The guy gave a nod and reached out to shake Ricky's hand. Ricky couldn't help thinking that the guy looked like those stereotypical beach bums that lived on their surf boards, and said things like 'dude' and 'knarly'.

"and this" Amy continued "is my three year old son John"

"Right on" the blonde stranger said, kneeling down to pump fist with John.

'Case in point' Ricky silently said in his head and resisted the urge to physically shake his head.

"So are you here on a date? Or with your buddies?" Ricky asked in a presumptuous tone as if he was trying to point out, what the hell is a college guy like you hanging out at a place like this on a Friday night. Don't these kind of guys spend their weekend nights at keggers drinking their weight in beer anyways?

"oh nah man. My uncle owns this place and I come in to help out once in a while. Usually upstairs doing some paper pushing stuff and crunching numbers" The blond guy said, with a smirk. Though it was really meant to be friendly, Ricky took it more like the guy was bragging about his fortunes. 'great another rich kid with rich folks', Ricky thought 'how does Amy keep finding these guys'.

"My dad wanted me to take finance, you know be a CFO of some company one day. Though I'd really rather have my own gig you know? Run my own business and all that. My dad thinks its a waste of time, too many new businesses fail, but my uncle got it pretty figured out so you never know"

"MOMMYYY lets goo play now!" John said interrupting their conversation.

Amy laughed, "Alright well I'd better let you go, or this guy is going to implode. Thanks for the free tokens by the way"

"Absolutely. Nice meeting you man" The guy said turning to Ricky, "Little man" again bumping fist with John, then turned to Amy "So I have your number, I'll give you a call and maybe we can meet up and I'll fill you in on what you've been missing in class"

"Yah sounds good to me. I'm free anytime, since I'm not doing anything these days. Hopefully I'll be back in class soon"

What the hell? Ricky thought, was she really setting up a date with this guy in front of him? Ricky couldn't believe how naïve he's been. Here he was thinking that everything was going really well with Amy and that maybe, just maybe they would try again at being a family. But she obviously had other plans in mind. Just because she moved back here, didn't mean that she wanted to be with him again. It was obvious now and he wasn't going to go through all that again. Why the hell did he break up with Clementine then? Although he knew why, she wasn't Amy and it wasn't going to be fair to her if he led her on, which is how he felt with Amy. She led him on, all this time, she has been leading him on. The rest of the night was ruined. He felt bitter and distanced himself from John and Amy the rest of the night.


	16. The Conclusion

**Authors Note: The last chapter! I hope you guys had as much fun reading it as I had writing it. This was my take on what would happen if the show had a few more episodes left to tie up the whole series of the secret life. Please review and let me know your thoughts! Also might put up one last final chapter 'the epilogue'.**

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><p>Amy was starting to feel a little more than awkward on the ride home from the movies. Ricky has been giving her attitude the whole night and has barely said two words to her. At least they were almost at the apartment where she can jump into her car and forget this night ever happened. At first she was worried that she did something to upset him. But why did she always have to feel like this around Ricky whenever he was upset about something? Why was it always her trying to walk around egg shells, so he doesn't get upset and run off to some other girl to blow off steam? She felt like that about their whole relationship until she finally had gotten sick of it and decided she wasn't going to be that girl anymore. Wasn't that why she eventually ended it?<p>

They finally reached Ricky's apartment and Ricky carried the sleeping three year old upstairs, while Amy followed them carrying John's backpack and the prizes he won from the arcade. Ricky opened the door to the apartment and Amy followed him inside. She waited while Ricky changed John into his pajamas and put him to bed.

Finally Ricky walked out of John's room closing the door behind him. He still hasn't said anything to Amy.

"Alright well um thanks for tonight, I guess" Amy began.

Ricky merely muttered a 'yup' not even looking at Amy. He headed to the kitchen to get himself a glass of water.

Finally Amy couldn't stand it anymore. She had to say something or it was going to drive her nuts the whole night.

"Okay what is with you? Did I do something wrong?" Amy asked following him

Ricky had his back to Amy. "No"

"Well you have been giving me ridiculous attitude all night"

"Amy forget it, I don't want to talk about it. It's getting late, you should go"

Amy decided she wasn't going to back down from this one. "I'm not leaving until you tell me why you're acting like that"

"Acting like what Amy?" Finally Ricky turned around. "I can't help it that I'm a little upset that you rudely set up a date with another guy in front of me. I know we're not together, but really I thought you'd have more class than that"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Amy asked, confused. "You mean Mike? He took my number down to help me catch up with the work I've been missing. He was trying to be nice"

"Yah that's exactly what that was" Ricky said, his temper now rising. Did she think he was born yesterday?

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about Ricky. Besides, you're one to talk. It's not like you waited too long after we broke up to start sleeping with other girls again. It was like what? Weeks after I left that you started sleeping around with someone else?"

"If you mean Clementine, we broke up remember? Oh right, you thought it was umm what was it? 'too bad' we didn't work out. So don't act like you care about that, because you obviously don't. Maybe that was your plan all along. Have me get together with another girl, so you don't have to be the bad guy by leaving this relationship. You want me to be the bad guy Amy? I'll be the damn bad guy. My whole life I've been the bad guy so I'll be the bad guy that ruined this relationship if you don't want that on your innocent shoulders" Ricky slammed the glass he was holding on the counter, making a loud banging sound. "Sorry your little plan didn't work out for you, because I broke up with Clementine. Who are you going to blame now? Adrian? Grace? Should I just go sleep with one of them so you can feel better about seeing other guys?"

"YOU ARE IMPOSSIBLE! AND DON'T YOU DARE BRING UP ADRIAN IN THIS SITUATION. YOU KNOW DAMN WELL SHE WAS AFTER YOU THE WHOLE TIME WE WERE TOGETHER" Amy said, raising her voice in anger. Right then she remembered that John was asleep in the other room. Finally, she turned around and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

Ricky stood there starring at the door in silence, not moving. The fight took him back to the night they broke up for good and Amy left to go to New York. Dejavu. He was standing at the same spot, starring at the same door, for what was probably a really long time, waiting for the door to open again with Amy coming through from the other side, saying she has changed her mind. It didn't happen then and it probably wasn't going to happen now. She was probably already in her car, driving as fast as she could to try and get away from this place. Maybe he was the bad guy. Maybe he shouldn't have ruined their night by acting like such a jackass. He was about to walk towards John's room to check up on him, when the door opened, Amy storming back in.

She walked right up to him, her face full of furry.

"Why didn't you come after me?" Amy asked

"What?" was all Ricky could reply. Shocked that this time, she actually came back. She did come back right? He wasn't just imagining this image of Amy in front of him?"

"Why didn't you come after me?" Amy repeated "When I left for New York, you didn't follow me. I didn't even hear from you for days when I got there. It was ME that had to call YOU."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ricky began, a little confused at first "You wanted to leave! You were the one who said you didn't want to be married! I told you I wanted to get married. I was this close to forcing you to go through with it!"

"I said I didn't want to be married if you weren't in love with me. That you deserve to be madly in love when you get married to someone. You were suppose to say, but I am madly in love with you Amy Jeurgens. You never said that"

Ricky was downright stunned. Was this really happening? Was she saying she wanted him to follow her to New York?

"The guy is supposed to chase the girl! That's how it happens in the movies" Amy said, tears now streaming down her face. "What did you want me to do Ricky? Go through with the wedding when I had the suspicion that you really wanted to be with someone else? Where is that going to get us in the long run? I didn't want you feel obligated to marry me, I wanted you to WANT to marry me. I wanted you to be madly in love with me. You never went after me! That's when I knew, I knew I made the right choice by letting you go. And then after that you told me that you were with Clementine. That just confirmed all along that you wanted to be with her and not with me."

"That's what you were thinking? Amy for God sakes, you kept talking about New York this and New York that and how Hudson was your dream and that you deserved to have your dream. Didn't you realize that you were making me feel like I was holding you back from those dreams? I didn't want to be that guy that stopped you from doing those things, because I got you pregnant at 15 Amy. I didn't want to be the one to hold you back"

"You never told me not to go! It was like you wanted me to leave so you could be with Clementine!" At this point Amy was sobbing.

"Are you crazy?!" Ricky said getting even more defensive "And don't act you're the only one that had to worry about other people in this relationship. What about Ben?"

"MY GOD Ricky, what about Ben? I've always made it clear that there was nothing between me and him. That nothing can happen between him and me…."

"And I never made that clear to Adrian or Clementine?" Ricky interrupted.

"Not to me, you never did!"

Ricky turned away from Amy in frustration. He paced back and forth the living room floor, wanting to punch something or destroy something. How could Amy think that he wanted her to leave so he can be with someone else? Was she really that blind? Was it not him who kept asking her about setting a wedding date? Or at least making some sort of plan to get married? She was the one always giving him the run around, setting ridiculous dates or coming up with excuse after excuse and continuously delayed everything. And now she's saying he never made her feel like he wanted her? Was she out of her mind?!

Finally a furious Ricky marched right back up to Amy, getting almost right in front of her face and said "What about this for a declaration of love? I love you Amy. No, I am completely and utterly in love with you. The thought alone of how much I love you scares the living hell out of me. Maybe it took me a while to realize that I was madly in love with you, but after I realized that I can't even imagine being with anyone else. I would love nothing more than to spend my whole life with you and John and maybe one day, when we're both ready, have more children. How's that? Was that convincing enough? Or do you still feel the need to run away so I can come after you and declare to the whole population of New York how much I love you? Would you like me to jump in front of a plane and flag down your flight while I'm at it?"

"You asshole" Amy said, feeling completely mocked. She opened herself up and this is what she gets.

She wanted to turn around and leave, but she realized the irony of this, and didn't want to give Ricky the satisfaction. Instead she turned her face away, her pride hurting.

Suddenly without warning, Ricky bent down and kissed her. He kissed her roughly, like a starving animal that hasn't eaten in days. Amy wanted to break the kiss, to pull away. She should pull away after being spoken to like that. How dare he make a mockery of her feelings. But for some reason she couldn't. She couldn't resist the urge, finally she gave in and began kissing him back, just as passionately.

Finally, their kissing slowed, but still more passionate the ever. Without breaking the kiss, Ricky lifted her up and carried her over to the couch. She laid down on her back, with Ricky right on top of her. Ricky broke the kiss and began making a trail from her forehead to her nose and then to the side of her neck. Both were fully aware that a three year old could come into the room at any second. But both also knew that if all the commotion from earlier didn't wake him up, nothing would.

Amy couldn't help moaning from the sensation this was giving her. Her right hand placed right behind Ricky's head. Ricky's mouth made it back to Amy's lips. After a while, they pulled away to catch their breath. They repositioned themselves so that they were now sharing the couch, lying side by side. Ricky with his arms wrapped around Amy, and Amy's head resting comfortable on Ricky's chest.

"Amy?" Ricky said after a while

"hmmm?"

"I am completely in love with you. I am. I want you to know that and never forget it" Ricky said stroking Amy's hair and then kissing the top of her head.

Amy got up so that she was now face to face with Ricky. She placed a gentle hand on Ricky's face. Tears began to form in her eyes.

"Oh Ricky, I love you too. You have no idea how glad I am to finally hear you say that. And I want you to know that I don't want New York. If there was one thing I learned from going to Hudson, it was that nothing means anything without you and John. No matter what anyone says, planning our future together doesn't mean we're cheating ourselves out of anything. I don't want you thinking that you're holding me back from anything ever again. We're a team, and we make a fine team."

Ricky pulled Amy into a kiss. After pulling away Amy asked "Did you really mean it when you said you wanted to have more children someday?"

Ricky smiled. "Someday"


End file.
